Daily Archives: November 20, 2011

“Pepper spray, also known as OC spray (from “Oleoresin Capsicum”), OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause tears, pain, and even temporary blindness) that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defence, including defence against dogs and bears. Its inflammatory effects cause the eyes to close, taking away vision. This temporary blindness allows officers to more easily restrain subjects and permits persons using pepper spray for self-defense an opportunity to escape.
Although considered a less-than-lethal agent, it may be deadly in rare cases, and concerns have been raised about a number of deaths where being pepper sprayed may have been a contributing factor.
The active ingredient in pepper spray is capsaicin, which is a chemical derived from the fruit of plants in the Capsicum genus, including chilis. Extraction of oleoresin capsicum from peppers involves finely ground capsicum, from which capsaicin is extracted in an organic solvent such as ethanol. The solvent is then evaporated, and the remaining waxlike resin is the oleoresin capsicum. An emulsifier such as propylene glycol is used to suspend the OC in water, and pressurized to make it aerosol in pepper spray. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is used to measure the amount of capsaicin and major capsaicinoids within pepper sprays.
A synthetic analogue of capsaicin, pelargonic acid vanillylamide (desmethyldihydrocapsaicin), is used in another version of pepper spray known as PAVA spray which is used in the United Kingdom. Another synthetic counterpart of pepper spray, pelargonic acid morpholide, was developed and is widely used in Russia. Its effectiveness compared to natural pepper spray is unclear.
Pepper spray typically comes in canisters, which are often small enough to be carried or concealed in a pocket or purse. Pepper spray can also be bought concealed in items such as rings. There are also pepper spray projectiles available, which can be fired from a paintball gun. It has been used for years against demonstrators. Many such canisters also contain dyes, either visible or UV-reactive, to mark an attacker’s skin and/or clothing to enhance identification by police.
The word Mace, a registered trademark of Mace Security International, is often used synonymously with pepper spray or tear gas; Mace was one of the original manufacturers of nonlethal security sprays in the US. However, not all of their products can be considered pepper spray.”

“As some faculty members called for her ouster, the chancellor of UC Davis launched an inquiry Saturday into the pepper-spraying of apparently peaceful Occupy Davis protesters by campus police.

A video of the Friday incident that went viral on the Web showed a police officer dousing the protesters with a canister of pepper spray as they sat huddled on the ground. The police had been attempting to clear the university’s Quad of tents and campers.

Faculty and students reacted with outrage. Nathan Brown, an assistant professor of English, said in an interview that the episode was the latest example of “the systematic use by UC chancellors of police brutality” to suppress protests.”

You don’t say.

“In an open letter, he wrote: “Without any provocation whatsoever, other than the bodies of these students sitting where they were on the ground, with their arms linked, police pepper-sprayed students. Students remained on the ground, now writhing in pain, with their arms linked.”

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi initially did not criticize the police, but she said Saturday that she had since watched the video and reviewed more accounts from the scene.

“It left me with a very bad feeling of what went on,” Katehi said in a telephone interview. “There was enough information to show that we need to take a serious look at what happened.”

She said she authorized police to remove the tents, but not to use the pepper spray in the manner shown on the video. “Absolutely not,” she said.”

If that’s your story, you stick to it.

In a statement announcing the formation of a task force to investigate the matter, Katehi said Friday “was not a day that would make anyone on our campus proud.”

“The use of pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this.”

At a news conference Saturday, UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said the decision to use pepper spray was made at the scene.

“The students had encircled the officers,” she said. “They needed to exit. They were looking to leave but were unable to get out.”

As is obvious from the video this is of course a BLATANT LIE!

“Geoffrey Wildanger, a graduate student in art history, said he was sprayed “in my ears and my nose. It hurts a lot. You feel like your whole body is on fire.”

He said the police overreacted. “The cops weren’t threatened in any way.”

Two students were treated at a hospital and released, and several others were arrested, officials said.

The Davis Faculty Assn. issued a letter Saturday demanding that Katehi step down. “The Chancellor’s role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it,” the association wrote, calling Katehi’s approval of police force to remove the Occupy Davis tents a “gross failure of leadership.”

The board of the statewide Council of UC Faculty Associations agreed, saying in a statement Saturday that “police violence” has been employed against protesters at UCLA, UC Berkeley and Cal State Long Beach.

Board member Mark LeVine, a UC Irvine history professor, said the Davis incident left him “shocked, almost speechless. It looked like a fire-extinguisher-size can of mace sprayed into the face of peaceful students.”

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Occupy protesters and police seemed to reach a detente Saturday that allowed at least 100 tents to remain on the streets. To avoid an immediate eviction, protesters agreed to thin their ranks and keep the encampments clean. Police and public works employees did clear out some tents on Market Street and along the Embarcadero.”

Meanwhile the heroic students, who the bitch claimed were threatening her life, found THIS on leaving a meeting with the University staff.

Le silence est d’or.

Prior to the Davis attack THIS had been the face of the Pepper-Sprayed